Jonah 3:2(King James Version)Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Nineveh

Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was situated on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, opposite the present Mosul, about 280 miles north of Babylon, 400 N

E. of Damascus, in latitude

36 degrees 20' N longitude 73 degrees 10' E. It was not only

a very ancient, ( Genesis 10:11, ,)but also a very great city. Strabo says that it was much larger than Babylon, the circuit of which he estimates at 385 Genesis 385 ; furlongs; and, according to Diodorus Siculus, it was an oblong parallelogram, extending 150 Genesis 150 ; furlongs in length, 90 Genesis 90 ; in breadth, and 480 Genesis 480 ; in

circumference, ie., about 20 miles long, 12 broad, and 60 in compass. This agrees with the account given here of its being "an exceeding great city of three days' journey," i

e., in

circuit; for 20 ; miles a day was the common computation for a pedestrian. It was surrounded by large walls 100 ; feet high, so broad that three chariots could drive abreast on them, and defended by Jonah 3:1 Jonah 3:500 ; towers 200 ; feet in height. See notes on Nahum. 3 ; 1:2Zephaniah 2:13-15